#Camelot & #Wonka #Candy

Next on the pop shelf are some movie soundtracks: a stand alone of Camelot. Richard Harris talk/sings his way though the lead better than one would have expected – in fact it launched his brief pop career with the help of Jimmy Webb. (more about that when I get to ‘H’).

The movie was an extravaganza almost success. I think the lack of real singers kept it from reaching mega audiences. The songs are solid Broadway Lerner & Loewe. I remember when it was first released. The lush look certainly impressed me, as did men in tights & Franco Nero’s blue eyes.

The one scene that remains in my memory involved lots & lots of candles. I wondered how they got so many brining at once & nearly all to the same level. Those set people must have been super coordinated to light them all.

On an lp to cd transfer are the sound tracks to Candy & Willy Wonka. I paired these off because they are from diametrically opposed movies. Candy being the film of Terry Southerns sex parody; Wonka a ‘delightful’ children’s movie. Candy includes tracks by The Byrds & Steppenwolf. The Dave Grusin music is full of sitars & is quite fun – Hollywood never quite caught that 60’s music vibe right. The story is a comic porno take on Candide with an all star cast including Marlon Brando. The film is rather tame compared to the book.

Willy Wonka is great fun – the Depp remake misses the antic nature of it by miles – I love Gene Wilder in it. The songs are all a delight from Golden Ticket to Oompa Loompa. The boat ride bit is still weirdly scary for a children’s movie. Plus who can resist singing dwarves? Though I do prefer singing dwarfs who work in diamond mines as opposed to candy factories.

Critical Musing

I had been working on my novel for about an hour when I sensed him behind me.

‘Please go away.’ I muttered over my shoulder.

‘Can’t I just watch?’

‘No. Writing isn’t a spectator sport.’

‘You call that writing. More like typing and you are still a pretty sloppy typist.’

‘Thank you. But I am a better typist than I was six months ago.’

‘I’ll grant you thank though much of the credit goes to spell check.’

‘Spelling isn’t as important as spilling. I have to spill this story out. The rest can be fixed when I’m done.’

‘If you can figure out what you were talking about. By the way what’s for supper.’

‘Maybe you should take a break. Take a shower & come back refreshed, ready to do some real writing.’ He went on.

‘No. I’m going to plug away here.’ I tried to shrug him off.

‘It must be nice to have time to waste when you could be doing real work.’

‘Real work?’

‘Yeah something that brings in real money right now. Even when you finish typing …’

‘Writing!’

‘Whatever … you still have to market this crap. Who do you think wants to real all this endless, pointless drivel about these guys. Who?’

‘I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. No use getting to that bridge without something to take across.’

‘But aren’t there other things you’d rather do now?’ his hands stroked the inner thigh.

‘Yes you’re right. Maybe I should be working one of the sex scenes now.’

‘You’re no fun since you started writing this crappy novel.’ He pulled away. ‘You get so serious, so full of yourself. Mr. I’m-Writing-A-Novel.’

‘Better than than Mr. I-Only-Think-About-It-But-Never-Do-It.’

‘But if you only think about you can always have the comfort of thinking how good it would be once you do it. But once you do it you’ll just see what a lousy typist you are. Stick to the fantasy, you’ll be happier.’

‘Look I’m just spilling it out not finishing it. If this one isn’t perfect so what! It just means the next one will be better. So get out of here and let me work.’

‘Work! Ha! You call this work. At least when you work in the garden you see some results. In fact there are some weeds that need pulling now and isn’t time you repotted those tea roses?’

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One thought on “#Camelot & #Wonka #Candy”

I need love, lust, and sex to make work, writing and sculpture. But these things also totally fuck me up because I keep falling in love with straight guys. Ugh. You can’t win. And yes, needless to say, making art is work. Sometimes enjoyable, usually frustrating and so difficult. Keep writing, Duncan, although I don’t need to say that, I’m sure.